


Just Dropping In

by pennysparrow



Series: Flower Shop AU [9]
Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dogs, Fluff, Gen, Modern Era, This is pure self indulgent fluff, krypto the therapy dog strikes again
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-28
Updated: 2018-06-28
Packaged: 2019-05-29 17:48:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15078398
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pennysparrow/pseuds/pennysparrow
Summary: Sometimes when you open the door to your apartment to pick up your morning newspapers a newsboy comes with, free of charge.*one shot*





	Just Dropping In

**Author's Note:**

> I saw a truly spectacular local production of Newsies the other week and the actor playing Finch just stole the show. I gained so much characterization for all the characters watching it and I have a lot of stuff I want to write based off it but I'll start with this. Mostly because I haven't really had the time or energy to write. So this is a very short love letter to my Finch. One of I'm sure many because he was just a wealth of inspiration.

Kath opened her door, only to have Finch nearly fall onto her feet. He rolled sideways at the last second and peered up at her with an easy smile. Katherine met his gaze with a puzzled frown. “What’re you doing?”

“Reading the latest news?” Finch held up one of her many papers and smiled. 

Kath rolled her eyes but stepped aside, letting Finch scramble to his feet and into her apartment. Bringing the papers with him. “Nice jammies,” he told her as he passed and went to settle at her tiny kitchen table. 

Kath laughed and shook her head; glancing down at her worn plaid shorts and too big, paint splattered t-shirt she had stolen from Jack. 

“Patrick, what’re you doing here? At eight a.m. on a Saturday? Just... loitering...?” She teased, moving around the kitchen behind him as she made them both cups of coffee. 

Finch screwed up his face as he stuck his tongue out at her. “How many times do I have to tell you that you sound like my mom when you call me that? And it gives me the worst kind of guilt.” Finch shuddered as she passed him his mug of coffee, sitting across from him with her own. 

“Maybe you should call her more?” Katherine suggested, only half joking. 

“Ugh. No. You know how she is.” Finch’s lip and nose wrinkled briefly before he blew on his coffee and took a sip. “She just starts nagging me and then by the time she runs out of steam on that she starts gossiping about people I’ve never even heard of for another year and a half.”

Kath snorted into her own mug. “I’ve never actually met your mom you know. And quite honestly I’ve gotten some very mixed messages. Charlie loves her, Jack says she’s a sweetheart but hates him, and Spot and Race have somehow managed not to meet her either. While all you do is complain about her.” 

“Alright, well, my mom loves Crutchie more than she loves me and thinks he can do no wrong. Which is false. As you know,” Finch smirked. He and Crutchie had been close since middle school and he’d been on the receiving end of Crutchie’s snark almost, if not more, than the other boy’s own brothers. “Jack may have accidentally broken her favorite ice tea pitcher when we were fifteen and she’s still a tad bitter.” 

Katherine nearly choked on her coffee as she laughed. “I do not recall ever hearing that story before. Which is surprising considering a decade long grudge is something that’s normally talked about.”

“We all make a conscious effort not to discuss it,” Finch shrugged, “so it never came up.”

Katherine shook her head and flipped open her copy of _The Sun_. She smiled at the mix of articles that made the front page. Denton and Darcy each had one while another of her and Specs’s pieces was featured. They’d been co-writing a lot of larger stories lately in addition to her own articles and the freelance work Specs would submit. Denton was looking to hire him as a political columnist and the way Specs talked Kath foresaw him signing a contract any day now. 

Rifling through to the comics Kath took the section with her and set to work making some toast. She stuck four pieces of her fancy bread, the expensive multigrain kind that she swiped from her parents’ kitchen loaves at a time and froze, into her toaster. She read about Snoopy’s latest adventure while she waited. Finch was staring into the depths of his coffee, his eyes glazed over as the caffeine slowly began to kick in. The toast popped, and Kath grabbed plates and the jar of Nutella. The two passed the jar back and forth across the table as they spread the gooey chocolate goodness across their toast. 

“Alright Finch, I love having you for breakfast but I’d have preferred to have notice,” she said between bites. 

He winced and shoved more toast into his mouth, preventing him from answering the unasked question as to why he was seated outside her door first thing in the morning on a Saturday. 

“What’s up Finch?” Kath asked gently. 

Finch swallowed his toast before taking a sip of coffee. “I took Krypto to the vet yesterday and they had him stay overnight and I’ve been kinda freaking out,” Finch finally admitted. 

Kath hummed sympathetically. Finch loved his dog and treated Krypto as though he were his own son. The fear of the yellow lab being sick was clearly stressing Finch out. “So have you just been sitting in my hall all night?”

He shook his head, taking another bite of toast. “Only since about 5:30 or so. Albert stayed up playing video games with me most of the night but he passed out around four. I wandered around a bit and it finally hit me that you actually wake up before noon on weekends-”

“Sometimes,” Kath interjected. She felt her cheeks heat at the memory of last Saturday when she woke up hungover and cranky at nearly three in the afternoon. Finch shot her a wry smile. He hadn’t been drinking with her, Sarah, and the boys last week but she knew either Race or Crutchie shared the night’s exploits with him. 

“Normally wake up before noon,” he corrected. “So I wandered over here and just decided to camp out.” 

“You could’ve knocked,” Kath said dryly. 

“I didn’t wanna wake ya,” Finch shrugged, ducking his head slightly. 

Katherine sighed, sometimes her boys were too polite for their own good. For as rowdy as they could be they all seemed to have a stubborn selfless streak. And yes, by this point they were all resolutely Katherine’s boys. 

“When should you hear from the vet?” Katherine asked Finch gently as he carried his now empty plate over to her half full sink. 

“They said by this afternoon they’d call me.” The way Finch slumped against her counter just showed how hard this was on him. 

Krypto was a therapy dog and Finch, a licensed psychologist, spent his days treating patients in hospitals and nursing homes with Krypto at his side. They were a much beloved pair and even volunteered at their college’s doggie de-stressor day each semester. The only alumni to do so. Mr. Jacobi had granted Krypto permission to be in his restaurant years ago so the yellow lab often came along to frisbee and brunch on a Sunday, making the dog the most beloved member of their friend group. For Finch to go so long without his companion and partner in crime, especially when it sounded unexpected, was a lot. Add in the worry over whatever the vet wanted to monitor Krypto for and Kath understood why Finch hadn’t been able to sleep. 

“Do you want to charge your phone? I’ve got extension cords and ten foot charging cables so we can crash on the couch and binge watch Kimmy Schmidt on Netflix whilst you do that?” She offered. Just looking at him standing there made her tired and her stomach roll with anxiety. 

“Not Kimmy Schmidt. I already watched the new season with Crutchie last week.”

“The turd,” Kath muttered, “he was supposed to wait for me to watch that. He knows I’m only like half a season behind.” 

Finch smiled at her, pushing his glasses back up his nose a bit. “Can we watch Mamma Mia? I get some sick sense of joy watching someone else complain about their mother. And Meryl Streep does such a good job bemoaning hers in it.” 

“Of course we can!” Kath laughed. 

Finch settled himself on her couch and pulled up the film while she rummaged around for her extra-long charger and an industrial extension cord that she used when she migrated around the apartment while writing on those days when sitting at a desk was just no longer conducive to her creativity. Or she just felt like scrolling through Tumblr without the app crashing every other minute so she dragged her laptop to the couch. She returned with them to find that Finch had created a blanket fort and was staring forlornly at the paused screen. 

“You’ll let me know what the vet says.” She passed him the charger. 

“You’ll be the first to know Katherine.” 

They settled in for the movie and by the time they’d moved on to Moana, Finch had managed to doze off and Kath was having trouble keeping her own eyes open. A shrill ring made them both jump. Finch struggled out of the blankets to answer his phone, silencing the harsh sound in the process. Kath could only hear Finch’s half of the conversations and it didn’t lend much insight with it being simply variations of the word “ok.” He finally hung up and looked at Kath excitedly. “He’s fine. It’s benign. I’m going to go pick him up. Everything’s ok.” 

Relief flooded Kath and she leaned over to wrap Finch in a hug. “What happened?”

“There was a lump on Krypto’s side. It was small but they wanted to check, rather safe than sorry. It’s just a cyst and a benign one at that.” 

Kath let out a breath. She murmured thanks to anyone who’d listen and gave Finch another hug. “Go get your pup. Bring him back here and I’ll find my copy of 102 Dalmatians to watch.”

“You don’t have a Hundred and One?” Finch quirked a surprised eyebrow. 

“Nope. Only the sequel. And it’s live action. On vhs tape.”

“Oh I have got to see this. Alright, I’m going to get my dog and I’ll be back.” Finch jumped off the couch and turned back with his hand on the doorknob. “Thanks Katherine,” he said sincerely.

She replied with a nod and a smile before snuggling back into the blankets and waiting for Finch to return with Krypto; and if she were Race she’d place money on the boys showing up too. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday by any means.

**Author's Note:**

> So if you've been reading this series for a while now you've probably figured out I'm on tumblr. If not well now you know! Feel free to yell about musicals, dogs, or comics with me any time @thelittleredheadedmusician


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